White Chocolate & Raspberry Cheesecake

One of my foodie dreams (of which there are many) is to one day visit a raspberry farm and pick and eat my own berries. Oooh how I long to pluck those beautiful, swollen, ripe jewels straight from the cane. Little capsules of flavour, just waiting to explode in my mouth. One day, my pretties. One day...

Although fresh raspberries are available in shops here, they are rather expensive. Lucky for me it's possible to buy quality frozen raspberries that are a fraction of the price, and are great for creating delicious sweets at home. This lovely cheesecake is one of my favourite ways to use raspberries. White chocolate and raspberry - a marriage made in heaven. This recipe is an oldie, but a goodie :)

White Chocolate & Raspberry Cheesecake

Adapted recipe from Good Taste magazine - July 2005

Ingredients

melted butter, to grease

250g plain sweet biscuits (I used Digestive biscuits)

100g hazelnut meal

150g unsalted butter

3 x 250g packets cream cheese, at room temperature

140g (2/3c) caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla bean paste

3 eggs

180g good quality white chocolate (I used Plaidstow), finely chopped but with some bigger chunks too - they really are a joy to come across whilst eating this cake

150g frozen raspberries

icing sugar, to dust

Method

1. Brush a 20cm (base measurement) round springform pan with melted butter to lightly grease. Cut out a round piece of baking paper and line the bottom of the pan. Lightly brush the paper with a little melted butter.

2. Place the biscuits in a food processor and  blitz until finely crushed. Add the hazelnut meal and melted butter and process until well combined. Transfer mixture to prepared pan and use a straight-sided glass to spread and press mixture firmly over base and side of pan. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 30 minutes to chill.

3. Preheat oven to 160 degrees celsius. Use an electric mixer to beat the cream cheese, sugar and vanilla bean paste until smooth. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Using a large spoon, fold in the chocolate and then the raspberries.

4. Pour mixture into the biscuit base and use the back of a spoon to smooth the surface. Bake in a preheated oven for 1 hour, or until just set in the centre. Turn the oven off, and leave the cheesecake in the oven with the door ajar for 2 hours, or until cooled completely. This will prevent the cake from cracking. Cover the cake with plastic wrap and transfer to the fridge for a few hours to chill. Before serving, dust with icing sugar.

Nice and simple, huh?! You're sure to win compliments when you make this for your family and friends.. You'll be blushing like a little raspberry in the sunshine :)

Ladybird x

Perfect Banana Cake

Anyone who likes to bake even on a semi-regular basis will have a favourite banana cake recipe up their sleeve for when they have a few old bananas in the fruit bowl. I have used the same banana recipe for a long time, and I thought it was time to try an new one. I came across this one which was perfect as it calls for 4 ripe bananas, and that's exactly how many I needed to use up!

This banana cake is wonderfully moist.. I highly recommend giving this one a try :)

Ingredients
125 g unsalted butter
1/2 c caster sugar
2 eggs lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla essence
4 medium bananas, mashed
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 c milk
2 c self raising flour, sieved

Icing
125 g unsalted butter
3/4 c icing sugar
1 tbsp lemon juice
small handful shredded/shaved coconut, toasted


Method
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcuis and grease a 20cm round springform tin.
2. Mash bananas in a bowl, add vanilla, cover and set aside. In a small bowl, combine milk and bicarbonate soda, set aside.
3. In a large bowl cream sugar and butter until light and fluffy.
4. Add eggs and mix until well combined.
5. Add banana mixture and mix until well combined.
6. Gently and gradually fold in flour and milk alternately.
7. Transfer to tin and bake for 1 hour, or until skewer comes out clean.
8. Leave in tin for 10 minutes and then turn out onto wire rack.
9. For the icing, mix the butter and sugar till very creamy then add the lemon juice.
10. Spread over cooled cake and top with coconut.

Tips

• Bananas should be very ripe.
• Bake with cold ingredients (butter, milk, eggs) at room temperature for best results.
• To toast coconut, dry roast in a pan over low to medium heat. Remove from pan once the coconut reaches a light golden colour.

Ladybird x

Boss Cheesecake

For a longggg time, my colleagues and I had been hinting at our boss to bring in his reknowned cheesecake. We forgot about it for a while and then today, to our surprise, he brought it in! We have all been working our butts off of late, so it was nice and well-deserved treat.

The above picture taken on a mobile really doesn't do it justice - it was really good (and I'm not just saying that because my boss made it!). It was slightly lemony and very creamy. Here is the recipe to this easy, no-bake, classic cheesecake by the boss...

Ingredients
1 packet of granita biscuits
½ stick of butter (125 g)
1 can condensed milk
2 packets of cream cheese (Philadelphia)
Juice of 2 lemons
A little orange juice for more flavour (optional)

Method
1. Crumble the biscuits.
2. Melt butter and add to crumbs. At this point add lemon zest if you wish.
3. Mix and press into a greased springform tin to form the base. Refrigerate until base becomes solid
4. Add condensed milk and cream cheese to a large mixing bowl. Mix thoroughly until all the lumps are gone.
5. Add lemon juice and keep mixing until mixture starts to set.
6. Add mixture to cake tin, smooth over and refrigerate overnight.

Notes

• To make a large cheesecake – just double the ingredients (except for the base).
• To make this cheesecake more lemony, you could perhaps add up to 1 lemon's zest (finely chopped) to the recipe - half in the base, and half in the mixture.

So readers, has your boss ever cooked you anything? If yes, what was it? And did you like it?


Ladybird x

Pistachio Yoghurt & Cardamom Cake with Lime Syrup

As some of my regular readers may have noticed,  I have somewhat of an obsession with the cardamom. I find its fragrance and flavour absolutely heavenly, so it's no sursprise that whenever I come across a recipe to use it, I make a note of it with the hope of eventually making it. I have lost count of the number of recipes I've added to my Favorites.. could be time to revisit them and cull!

This recipe comes from 'Sweet Food' by Murdoch Books and requires a food processer. I have a Breville 'Whizz' which struggled a little, and started emitting strange groans in the final stages of use.. I do hope I haven't broken it!

Ingredients
150 g (1 cup) shelled, unsalted pistachios
1/2 tsp ground cardamom

150 g unsalted butter, chopped

1 1/2 c self raising flour

1 1/4 c caster sugar
3 eggs
1/2 c plain yoghurt
1 lime

Method
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius. Butter and line a 20 cm round cake tin.
2. Place the pistachios and cardamom in a food processer and pulse until chopped.
3, Add the butter, flour and 3/4 c of caster sugar and pulse for 20 seconds or until crumbly.
4. Add combined eggs and yoghurt and pulse for 10 seconds or until just combined.
5. Spoon into the tin and smooth the surface.
6. Bake for 45-55 minutes, or until skewer comes out clean. Allow to cool.

7. To make the syrup, peel the zest off the lime with a vegetable peeler and remove any white pith from the zest.
8. Place remaining caster sugar and 100 ml water in a saucepan and stir over low heat until dissolved.
9. Bring to boil, then add lime zest and cook for 5 minutes.

10. Strain and cool slightly. Pierce cake with a few skewer holes and pour the hot syrup slowly over the cooled cake.

Notes
- This is a good morning/afternoon tea cake and would also be nice as a slab cake cut up into squares.
- I removed the cake from the tin before pouring over the syrup. Next time I think I'll cool the cake in the tin and then pour the syrup over and leave it to sit for half an hour or so before serving. I feel this method would make for a much more moist cake.

At this point, I would also like to announce that I have reached my Golden Post! :) I only realised this the other day when I added the number of posts for 2009 and 2010 together.. haha! In fact, this is technically my 51st post. At any rate, thank you for reading, and I hope to bring you many more posts that will leave you drooling on the keyboard ;)

Love,

Ladybird x

Flourless chocolate cake

Sometimes only a good flourless chocolate cake will do on a weekend, and this one is very simple and oh so decadent... Perfect served warm with raspberries and cream.

It was also a good way to use up some eggs and leftover almond meal!

Ingredients
250 dark cooking chocolate
150g butter
155g caster sugar
100g almond meal
5 eggs, separated
icing sugar (for dusting)

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celcius and butter and flour a 20cm round springform tin. I also like to cover the base with a circular cutout of of baking paper.
2. Stirring occasionally, melt the chocolate, butter and sugar in a heatproof bowl over a pot of simmering water.
3. Remove form heat and stir to combine. Then stir in ground almonds, and mix in egg yolks one at a time.
4. Beat egg whites until stiff and peaky, then stir a couple of spoonfuls into chocolate mixture. Then fold remainder of eggwhites through with care.
5. Put mixture into prepared tin and bake for 50-60 minutes.
The time, however, will depend on your oven, so make sure you do a skewer test in the centre of the cake to check that it is cooked through. If it doesn't come out 100% clean don't worry - at least you know it will be moist inside!
6. So that the cake does not collapse after baking, turn the oven off and leave the cake in the oven with the door open for 5-10 minutes, then remove to cool.

I was delighted with how the cake turned out because last time I made it, it sank quite a bit in the middle - but not this time! I think leaving the cake in oven with the door open for a few minutes made a big difference :)

I don't think flourless chocolate cakes are supposed to look perfect, but it's nice not to have it go *flop* and look like a crater...

It was nice and moist on the inside too, without being dry or grainy as flourless chocolate cakes can be sometimes.

So all in all a successful evening's baking. Have a lovely weekend, everyone!

Ladybird :)

Mr Ladybird's 30th Birthday Party!

So as many of you will know, Mr Ladybird turned 30 last week. We hosted a party on Saturday to celebrate with our family and friends. It was so much fun, the hubby had such a great time - thank you to overyone who came along... it was so nice seeing you all!

For Mr Ladybird's birthday, I decided to get him a Liverpool cake - he is such a diehard Liverpool fan so I thought it would be great to have a liverpool themed cake! The magnificent cake was created by Sharon of Sharon Wee Creations. Her attention to detail is so impressive. It was a lovely moist vanilla cake, with a layer of white chocolate ganache in between. I cannot sing Sharon's praises highly enough - she is one talented li'l lady! To read about the cake from her perspective, click here.

Due to popular demand, here are the names of some of our other 'suppliers' for the night!

Our balloons and party supplies, including disposbale champagne glasses were from Sydney Party Shop at 485 Forest Rd, Bexley NSW. We used a DIY helium balloon kit - it was good value and easy to use. PLUS- karaoke on helium is a lot of fun ;)

The Jukebox & Karaoke machine was from Jukebox Hire. It was so much fun and really helped make the night a success - guests had a lot of fun choosing songs and giving karaoke a go :)

The cheese & spinach and the pea puffs were from The Original Maltese Cafe at 310 Crown St, Surry Hills. These delicious flaky pastries will melt in your mouth, and they are FAR superior to the cheese and spinach pastries you get in the supermarket, not to mention the fact that they are such good value!

Umm no I didn't make the dips, sorry :( I would have loved to have made them myself, but I simply had no time! The dips were from Yalla Dips on Anzac Parade, Maroubra. This is where the factory is located, but you can still but the dips there. You can them at DJs, as well as quite a few supermarkets and delis. My favourite was the Hummus.. so tasty with warm turkish bread!

Ladybird x

Baked Ricotta Cheesecake with Balsamic Strawberries

One year ago today my husband and I officially moved to Sydney. It's been a great year for us - a new city, new home, new jobs, new friends and new experiences.

To celebrate I decided to make something new. I've never made a cheesecake before and I found this recipe and it looked so good I just had to try it, especially since strawberries are in season.

Tastes extra good watching a movie like Little Miss Sunshine too! ;)

To view the recipe, click here.